4 Ways to Hand Over Tasks to Your Virtual Assistant
When I start working with a new client, this question always comes up: how do I give work to you? How do I pass along tasks I’d like you to complete? And, of course, these are great questions, because this is the heart of working with a Virtual Assistant. You’ve got work to assign to your assistant, but how do you do it? I’ve put together a short list of different ways you can easily hand off work to your assistant.
1. Online workspaces – Asana, Slack
Online workspaces like Asana and Slack, for example, are great ways to not only assign tasks to your assistant, but to communicate with them as well. If you’re unfamiliar with Asana, it is a web-based application where you can assign tasks or projects to your assistant that they can literally check off when they’re done and you get notified. Of course, Asana has many other offerings, but if you’re looking for a great and easy to use task management system, then Asana is an option. Write your task with instructions, assign it to your assistant, and he or she will get notified; then your assistant can respond back with questions or just check it off when they’re done. Easy!
If you’d like to keep your inbox free of back-and-forth emails with your assistant, Slack is a great option because it has chat features where you and your assistant can be sure to stay on the same page regarding tasks. It also features ways to integrate other services like Google Drive and Office 365 as well as file sharing – more on that below.
2. Online file hosting sites – DropBox, Google Drive
Along the same lines, DropBox and Google Drive are just two of many ways you can share documents with your assistant without having to email them back and forth. Utilizing one of these methods also creates a live document so that you can see any changes made immediately without having to wait for an email with the updated document. Here’s an idea: create a Google Doc, share with your assistant, bullet point your tasks with any detailed instruction including due dates and your assistant can go through completing the tasks. Using the strikethrough feature is a way to cross off the completed tasks. Use the comment feature in Google Docs to ask any questions regarding tasks and keep the list going. A document like that creates a way to see what’s been done and what still needs doing. Going back to Asana really quick, it lets you attach a document to your task so the document you need your assistant to access is right there with the assigned task. Pretty cool, huh?
Once you pick a method of relaying information over, it becomes easier to assign tasks and to think of tasks to assign.
3. OneDrive
With OneDrive, you can, along with the others mentioned, access your files anywhere, it has backup protection and about 1 TB of cloud storage. Sharing and collaborating with your assistant in OneDrive is a cinch! Just select the folder you want to share, click the share button and invite your assistant. If you’re a Microsoft 365 subscriber, the chat feature is available to you and, while we’re at it, you can also add an additional email address to your Office 365 account for your assistant which then keeps everything in-house.
4. Email
Good ‘ol email! I mean, why not? You can always fall back on tried-and-true email to relay information over to your assistant. This may clog up an already full inbox, but if you’re not ready to try another avenue, just get started here. As you work with your assistant you may see a bigger need for a better system to hand tasks over. Simply create an email to your assistant with what the task is, include any specific instructions, attach any files and click send! Voila! Your assistant will take it from there.
These are just some methods of handing tasks over. The applications mentioned above all have free versions or paid versions. I always say, start with the free version and then move up from there. Yes, there are other ways, other applications, but I wanted to touch on a few of them to get your creative juices flowing. Handing tasks off to your Virtual Assistant doesn’t have to be difficult or hard. Once you pick a method of relaying information over, it becomes easier to assign tasks and to think of tasks to assign. Watch the magic happen when you give your assistant a task, and poof! It’s done before you know it and they’re ready for the next one!